Majiir Paktu
Majiir Paktu-Sa was the leader of Kiith Paktu and lead the kiith on its famous migration across the Great Banded Desert to the south pole of Kharak. Majiir was leader of Kiith Paktu from 488 until his death in 493. It is arguable that had Majiir not made the decision to migrate, Kiith Paktu would have been absorbed into one of the larger religious Kiiths. First Migration Little is known of Majiir Paktu's early life, other than that he was born in the year 462, when Kiith Paktu was a minor farming kiith living on the slopes above the Salt Sea. That year a long rift between the leaders of the powerful religious kiithid, Kiith Siidim and Kiith Gaalsien intensified over matters of religious dogma. In 462 Kiith Siid's council announced a change to the Siidim cosmology. Traditionally, the Siidim held that all kiithid on Kharak had been exiled from a distant paradise. The proclamation of 462 claimed that only the Siidim were of divine origin and that all other kiiths were native to Kharak, their blood tainted by the corrupting sand making the non-Siidim inferior. In accordance with the new dogma, many harsh laws were passed against non-Siidim kiiths-the people known as "Gritiidim" (sand people). The harshest of these measures was the Clean Water Act, which forbade non-Siidim kiithid from living at the headwaters of a river or stream, lest they foul the water which Siidim downstream would have to drink. Hundreds of families were displaced by Siidim temple men, turned out of their ancestral homes and made to march downstream, carrying as much of their former lives with them as they could. In 488, Kiith Paktu, now led by Majiir, joined the ranks of the dispossessed. During this period, the temples of the neighbouring Kiith Gaalsi had become obsessed with sins of pride and by the redemption of Kharak through suffering. The Siidim made obvious targets for the sermons of Gaalsi holy men: for every Siidim sin of pride, they said, more suffering was demanded by the gods of Kharak. Lesser kiiths of the north, already suffering under Siidim oppression, were often willing to join their holdings to the Gaalsi rather than see them taken by the Siidim. Many kiiths welcomed Gaalsien soldiers and temple men into their strongholds, only to find themselves held at swordpoint and made to watch as their "sinful" books and belongings were burned to appease the gods. Heavy tributes of both food and wealth were demanded by Gaalsien armies, impoverishing the lesser kiiths who had allied them selves to the Gaalsi. By this time, open war, known as the Heresy Wars had broken out between the Siid and the Gaalsi. Both Kiiths were too powerful for any smaller kiith to challenge and even the remotest kiiths were forced to choose sides. Gritiidim to the Siid and slaves to the Gaalsi, many kiiths were ready to try the untinkable: crossing the Great Banded Desert to the south to look for the mythical ocean supposedly located at the south pole. The only confirmation of a land south of the desert came from mad Manaani travelers rambling about endless seas and "grasses that touched the sky." At this time Majiir Paktu, as head of the Paktu kiith'sa decided to lead Kiith Paktu across the Great Banded Desert to search for new land in what is called the First Migration. Although the migration may not have been entirely his idea, it is certain that Majiir made the decision to migrate. At the edge of the desert Kiith Paktu began to build sand sailers to carry them across the sand. The migration was a slim hope at best, so slim that no kiithid dared to risk it until there was no other hope at all. Nearly fifty kiithid set out from the plain at Albegiido in 490 and sailed into the Great Banded Desert, crossing the sands while pushed by the winds of the seasonal storm, the Chak m'Hot. By the time the men, women and children of the First Migration reached the shore of the Hunon Mountains, only seventeen families were left, and all of them had lost weaker members on the journey. Still more died as they struggled over the Hunon; without anyone to guide them to the easiest pass, they lost many to poisonous water, rockfalls, thirst and lizard-bite. As the story goes, many of the Firsters fell into despair among the burning red canyons of the Hunon and did not want to go on. Majiir stood at the head of the column and pleaded with the people to continue. "I can smell the sea," he said. "It's only a little farther." The people did not believe him, and more than a few turned to start the hard trek back to their sand sailers. But as legend has it, at that moment a bird appeared in the cloudless sky above them - a sea-spirit, circling against the hot sun. The kiiths of the First Migration followed the sea-spirit and Majiir Paktu through the mountains, and when they stood on the last red hilltop, they were looking down at the rolling breakers of a great grey sea. Straight away, that expanse of water was named the Majiirian Sea, after the man who brought them there. The people of the First Migration settled on the shores of the Majiirian, and were presumed dead by many in the North for the almost two years it took to build up their homes and holdings. In the spring of the third year, however, Majiir Paktu and a group of picked volunteers attempted another crossing of the Great Banded Desert, to take back word of the new land to the North, where the war between Siidim and Gaalsien still raged. Majiir Paktu did not survive the Return, but seven of his followers did. These seven Paktu kiithsmen passed through the Northlands on foot, taking word of the new land with them everywhere they went. Once that word spread, there was no stopping it. Dozens of families built sandsailers on the famous plain of Albegiido every year, trying to escape the Heresy Wars. Majiit Paktu's leadership was considered essential to Kiith Paktu's survival and he is considered a great hero in Kiith Paktu folk tradition. Every year Kiith Paktu and all the other residents of the south pole hold a celebration on the day that legend says the sea-spirit appeared to Majiir Paktu, leading him and his kiith to the sea. See also *Kharak *Kiith Paktu Sources *Homeworld Historical and Technical Briefing Category:Lore: Characters